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Could I possibly be overmisting?

I was paging through the Nepenthes archives tonight and saw a post asking about utilizing misting as the source of humidity and one response was that frequent misting can lead to disease.

I keep my nepenthes in a 29 gallon aquarium with a lid and almost no air exchance except when i open the tank and mist every day or sometimes twice a day. pretty much the leaves always have water droplets on them. I thought this was the way to go with Nepenthes.

Well, I've noticed on my little pot of horrors "x Judith finn" plants that there are reddish brown pock and scrape-like marks on my plant (almost look like "potholes" in a road). My Ventricosa is also making new twisted leaves and also has these marks on the older leaves, the truncata, alata, x coccinea do not have the marks or "twisted" new growth.

Here's the conditions of the 29 gallon aquarium - like a 20 only a bit taller:
75*-85* (night/day)
Humidity 90-100%
lighting 4x20W (80 W total flourescent light)
Lid sealed except for 1/4" hole drilled in the back - occasional use of supplemental DIY yeast CO2 (when I remember to recharge the bottle).

Should I lay off the misting?
 
Most deffinately. With an almost totally closed terrarium you should only very occasionally have to add water. I don't grow in a terrarium personally..But with very little outside air entering the terrarium, where is the water inside going to go?
Tony
 
Yep, I learned that too.
smile.gif
I used to have my Rajah saturated at night but I learned from a good friend thta it can lead to disease so i have stopped now but with 100% humidity.
 
Hi folks!
I guess I just assumed when the leaves did get dry (every day or so) the plant sucked it up so I added more!
I'll just lay off the spray bottle then! :cool:
 
I don't know where you live, but many times, nepenthes in terrariums have much higher humidity than natural conditions. You might start letting a little air to them, but do it gradually. Plants grown in very high humidity will tend to wilt quickly if instantly subjected to much lower humidity. However, if you gradually acclimate your nepenthes to a little less humidity, you may find that eventually they can tolerate much lower than the humidity you are giving them and thus avoid diseases and still pitcher just fine.

Kim
 
OK, thanks for that tip.I will just quit misting for a week or so then crack the lid a tiny bit to allow slight air-exchange.

Yes, I'm forced to use terrariums cos my house is way down to 40-50% or so humidity.-less if I put a light in one spot so my first Nepenthes a few years back was turned into almost an instant dried flower arrangement!

Thanks again folks!
 
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